SUPERHUMAN LIFE No. 4

THE VISITOR FROM OUTER SPACE

By Ernest O'Neill

Is there such a thing as superhuman life? Is there any kind of life that is
higher than the creaturely existence you and I have here on earth? Or are we
imprisoned here on this planet with no hints of where it came from or how we got
here? Have any of us succeeded in getting sufficiently deep into space that we
can tell what, if anything, lies beyond this physical universe?

The answer is bluntly "No." Not even the great religious leaders
like Buddha or Isaiah claim ever to have got off the earth and remained
conscious. BUT in the whole history of the world, there has been one visitor
from Outer Space that has been able to tell us that there is a superhuman life
behind the physical universe. He existed about 1950 years ago and he
demonstrated his ability to leave the earth and return to it at will.

Such a claim as this requires almost superhuman substantiation because this
kind of fantasy has been imagined by human authors for generations. Does this
virtually superhuman evidence of a visitor from Outer Space exist? Yes -- though
it seems too good to be true, the historicity of this person's life on earth is
more firmly established than almost any other human being of that era.

First, this man's life has been recorded by eye witnesses like Peter and
John who were well-known figures in Palestine in the first century. Their own
existence is confirmed in many contemporary history books unconnected with the
Bible which contains their own writings. Secondly, their accounts of this man's
life are corroborated by other contemporary historians like Pliny, Josephus,
Tertullian, Porphyry, and Celsus who make this kind of comment: "Tiberius
accordingly, in whose days the Christian name made its entry into the world,
having himself received intelligence from Palestine of events which had clearly
shown the truth of Christ's divinity, brought the matter before the senate, with
his own decision in favor of Christ. The senate, because it had not given the
approval itself, rejected this proposal. Caesar held to this opinion,
threatening death against all the accusers of the Christians."

But this seems incredible unbelievable! Is it not more probable that these
followers were so deeply impressed by this remarkable leader that they allowed
their admiration to get the better of their love of truth, and they exaggerated
his power over death? This might happen if their story about the resurrection
resulted in their fame and fortune. But it did not! If they had just spread his
teaching they could have lived long and respected lives; what they insisted on
claiming was that this man rose from the dead--this is why they were persecuted
by the Jewish and Roman authorities. This fact was the cause of their early
deaths -- and the deaths of their wives and children.

Now men will die for something they think is true but which later turns out
to be a lie. BUT men will not create a lie or an exaggeration that not only they
but their families have to die for. Such an event is an ethical and
psychological impossibility!

However, there is an even greater reason for accepting with absolute
certainty the historicity of this unique life that occurred on our planet at the
beginning of this era. The first written accounts (which we have today) were
read by hundreds of people who had themselves seen Jesus' life and death. They
only had to laugh at these written records and tell what had really happened,
and these accounts would never have survived the first century as history let
alone the twentieth.

One of the letters that recount this unique life was written to people who
lived in the Roman province of Galatia in the year 48 a.d. Obviously there were
many people alive in 48 a.d. who had seen Jesus crucified in 29 a.d.. Even a man
of 20 at the crucifixion would be barely 40 when this account was circulating.
The population in that small area of the globe was not large and the written
reports were being read far and wide. In such a situation, historians have to
write it "like it was" - otherwise their histories will be exposed as
fantasies. There was no such scandal! There was no such outcry! Incredible
though this unique man, Jesus, was, the evidence that he existed is stronger and
more detailed than the evidence for Julius Caesar or Alexander the Great. If
this man did not live in our world, then history does not exist!